Casinos and other resorts that offer wagering games, sports books, and other similar endeavors have grown substantially in popularity and sophistication in recent years. Wagering games such as baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps, sic-bo, and poker, among many others, are popular table games offered in such establishments. These games are generally administered by human dealers and are played on physical gaming tables having a dealer surface, felt or similar table top layouts, cards, dice, chips and the like, or they can be played on electronic gaming machines where the dealer, playing cards, chips or other gaming elements may be virtual.
While many formats for these table games involve live cash type games against the house or other players, other formats can involve electronic and online versions where players can be at the physical gaming table and/or located remotely from but still playing at the physical gaming table. As a particular example, “stadium style gaming” involves an arrangement where many players may participate at a given live action gaming table by way of remote gaming terminals. In some arrangements, dozens or even hundreds of players may participate at a single table in this manner. Many such arrangements involve the presence of a live dealer, and often there are no players at the actual live gaming table. The use of remote gaming terminals can also allow players to play at multiple live gaming tables simultaneously while being present only at one table or even while not being present at any single table.
Unfortunately, there are several new issues that can arise due to such new arrangements. For example, unlike situations where physical chips or markers are used, it can often be cumbersome or even impossible for a player to tip a dealer that he or she likes or wishes to provide for under a stadium style gaming or other similar arrangement. In addition, it can often be inconvenient or cumbersome to tip waitstaff or give funds locally to a family member or friend when physical chips, markers, or cash are not being used during a gaming experience, even where a player may be doing well and have huge amounts of credit electronically at his or her local electronic gaming terminal. In current arrangements, a player is simply not able to extract only a small tip amount, drink amount, or other portion of the funds that he or she has on an electronic gaming terminal.
While the administration of table games and other casino endeavors have worked well in practice over many years, there is always a desire for improvement. What can be improved then are electronic gaming terminals and gaming table systems that allow for the ready and easy transfer of funds for tips and other monetary value transactions without interrupting game play or otherwise inconveniencing players.